Kirby's Pet Peeve
Kirby's Pet Peeve is the 15th episode (12th in Japan) of Kirby: Right Back at Ya!. Synopsis Kirby doesn't have anyone his size to play with; whenever he plays with Tuff and his friends, he always ends up getting pushed around. Tiff thinks that her family should go to Gengu's toy store to buy Kirby a toy he can play with. Conveniently, Gengu has a brand new toy in stock. He doesn't know how it got in his shop, but Tiff thinks it will be a perfect playmate for Kirby. It's a robot dog. Once the robotic dog is up and running, it's always in the mood to play with Kirby. It's like Kirby's new little brother. Kirby sometimes finds his puppy to be annoying, but he still loves his new playmate. It might not be long until Kirby and his friend are separated, though, as Tiff discovers just where this mysterious toy came from... Episode summary The episode starts with Kirby playing with Tuff and his friends, where they kick a can and Kirby has to get it. After Tiff sees him fall off a cliff and roll into a tree, she tells off the others for bullying Kirby and they leave. She thinks it would be best to give Kirby a friend of his own. Meanwhile, Gengu is frantically searching for a toy to present to Tiff's family, who is visiting. He notices a strange box that has the Nightmare Enterprises logo on it, but is interrupted as Tiff and Tuff arrive. When Lady Like sees Tuff playing with a toy plane, she scolds him and reminds him that they were here for Kirby's toy, not his. Tuff replies that he knows, and accidentally breaks the toy. Gengu then walks over and presents them the toy and decide to get it for Kirby. After they come home, they decide to open the box and see what it was. It is revealed to be a robotic toy dog. Tiff then reads the instruction manual, which says to pull the dog's tail after putting in the batteries. It seemed to adore Kirby right after it has been activated. Kirby, however, runs away as it chases him. Soon, everyone wants one, even King Dedede, who goes to extreme measures to get it. Tiff soon discovers its danger to others and tries to get Kirby away from it. By this point, Kirby and the Robot Pet have become closely attached, but doesn't know it because it only attacks in self-defense or for Kirby. Kirby stands on the tip of a cliff, which gives way, dropping him and the Robot Pet into the ocean. Dedede rides his boat, still trying to get the Robot Pet. The Robot Pet enters self-destruct mode as Kirby swims to it. It has flashbacks of the times it had with Kirby, and sheds a tear before pushing Kirby away and jumps into Dedede's net, to Kirby's shock. Shortly after, it explodes and its tail lands in Kirby's hands. Later at night, Kirby watches the ocean and Gengu arrives to give him his own version of the Robot Pet as a plush. He admits it'll never replace the original, but Tiff reassures him that Kirby will understand. Then an image of the Robot Pet appears in the sky as a constellation, reaching for Kirby before running off into the distance. At the ends, Kirby jumps up and yells as if to say goodbye, leaving Tiff and Gengu with confused faces. Changes in the dub Scene Changes * The scene where Kirby and his Robot Pet are skipping through the grass and flowers are shown was cut in the English dub for unknown reasons, but was shown in Kirby Takes the Cake. * After Kirby and Robot Pet cross the street, there are a few seconds of Tuff stifling laughter before making fun of Kirby. * The scene where Robot Pet goes through his settings when he awakens for the second time was removed from the English dub. * The scene where Kirby comforts the dog as they're about to be attacked, for some reason, has a commercial break in the middle of it in the English dub. * When Kirby swims out to save Robot Pet, the part where the screen says "EXPLOSIVE MODE" was removed from the English dub to possibly build the suspense. Script/Sound Changes * Tuff, Iro, Spikehead, and Honey act much more bad-natured in the English dub than in the original version, which is out of character for all of them, especially with the way they treated Kirby in the past and what they say about him throughout this particular episode. * In the English dub, almost all references to calling Robot Pet a little brother and his "birth" are removed. This was most likely done out of 4Kids's worries that the company would be held liable for influencing much younger children to believe that toys can be siblings. * In the Japanese version, Sir Ebrum apologizes for coming in on holiday, but in the English dub, he implied that they came earlier than when Gengu usually opens his store. * Tuff says, "cool" when he picks up the action figure in the original version, but his line is removed in the English dub. ** When the action figure breaks, Tiff says that's what he gets for teasing Kirby. In the English dub, she asks whether or not that's coming out of his allowance. ** Tuff denies teasing Kirby and says that it's uncool for a Star Warrior to have a toy. In the English dub, Tuff said he didn't want to be there and acts more selfish in this version by questioning the merit of wasting money on toys for Kirby rather than doing that for himself. * When the toy breaks, Gengu is silent, but in the English dub, sounds were added so it seemed like he was flustered. * When Gengu brings the toy, he says that it was new and so the price was higher; however, the latter line was replaced with saying that there's only one in stock. * In the Japanese version, Lady Like says that the Robot Pet seems to like Kirby. In the English dub, this line was replaced with "Kirby looks delighted with his toy" despite running away from it. ** Tuff even follows this up in the English dub by questioning why Kirby was running away from it, to which Sir Ebrum suggests that they were playing tag. In the Japanese version, Tuff instead follows up his mother's thought by expressing surprise that even a toy could be attached to Kirby, and Sir Ebrum says it's well-made. ** Tiff advises Kirby to take good care of Robot Pet in the original version, but this line was replaced with "it might take a while for them to get used to each other" in the English dub. ** Sir Ebrum originally congratulates Kirby on the birth of his new little brother, but instead says, "to Kirby and his battery-powered playmate" as part of a toast. ** After the family clinks their glasses, they talk amongst themselves silently, but Sir Ebrum and Tiff say, "I think he likes it," and "Kirby!" respectively in the English dub. * In the next scene, Kirby has a squeaking sound effect when he walks, but has a much different one in the English dub as per usual. * When Kirby turns around, the dog simply opens his mouth, but a small bark is added in the English dub. * When Kirby runs up the tree, the sound of wood being pounded by his feet was cut from the English dub. * Tokkori says that he'd get rid of that "piece of mechanical junk" before chasing off Robot Pet. In the English version, he instead says that Kirby had to learn how to tell it who's in charge. ** As he's pecking Robot Pet, he says, "scram" in the English dub when he was silent in the original. ** After getting splashed, Tokkori gets confused and angry at Kirby for splashing him, but in the English dub, he's so angry that he vows to never help Kirby again. ** Still angry, Tokkori shouts, "I can't believe you!" as Kirby and Robot Pet walk off-screen. In the English dub, he says, "Hey, you two deserve each other!" for some reason. Why this change in the script happened is unknown since this seemed like a sudden mood swing from anger to feeling happy for his roommate. * Tuff and his friends are playing on the river bank when they hear yelping. Tuff doesn't seem to know what it is, and Honey suggests that it sounds like a dog. In the English dub, the former deduced that it was Kirby's dog and Honey thought it was in trouble. * Escargoon's theme is playing in the background when Kirby and his Robot Pet are around fruit in the next scene. This was most likely an error that was overlooked. * After Tuff is done making fun of Kirby, Tiff expresses her wish that the two of them could get along just as well as Kirby and Robot Pet. In the English dub, she simply says she's proud of him, and if Robot Pet could learn new tricks, so could Tuff. * After getting electrocuted, Spikehead says, "That was cool," while Iro and Honey respond with "Yeah, real cool," when they were originally silent. * When King Dedede and Escargoon are driving on the beach, the latter originally says that driving on the beach is romantic, but the line was replaced with, "and so I say I'm not going skinny dipping." This change was unusual since one would think skinny dipping is more inappropriate to mention for what 4Kids wanted to be a kid's show. ** King Dedede asks what Robot Pet was and Escargoon replies by saying that it was probably the latest electronic pet. 4Kids uses this opportunity to throw in a joke by instead having him say, "I don't know what he's got, but I got whiplash." * When King Dedede was trying to wake Gengu, he just shouts at him to wake up and open the store. In the English dub, he threatens to bulldoze the establishment. * After finding out that Kirby has the only Robot Pet, King Dedede vows to steal it from him. In the English dub, he promises a dogfight. * When Kirby and Robot Pet are shown once again asleep in the former's tree, Chef Kawasaki's theme plays in the background, despite being nowhere near his restaurant or the character himself. * Gengu originally offers to fix the toy if it was broken, but the line was replaced by mentioning that King Dedede also wanted to see the box it came in. * A light version of the N.M.E. Sales Guy's theme plays in the background when King Dedede is talking to Iro, Spikehead, and Honey after they catch him and Escargoon snooping around Kirby's dwelling. * After King Dedede locks away the Robot Pet, he claims that the cage was designed to keep in even powerful monsters, so even Kirby couldn't rescue it. In the English dub, he simply says it's Kirby-proof with no real explanation of why it is as such. 4Kids even deemed it appropriate to throw in a joke about how a robotic dog required no newspapers. * When Robot Pet barks at the Waddle Dees, crunching sound effects were added in the English version. * When King Dedede and Escargoon approach the robot, they say, "That's right," and "give up," but in the English dub they're silent in their approach. * When Dedede commands his guards to charge, Escargoon orders to capture the dog. In the English dub, he wants both Kirby and Robot Pet. * The monster download theme plays in the background as King Dedede's boat speeds to catch up to Kirby. Cosmetic Changes * The book that Tiff is reading has the English title "The Crest and the Mark" digitally airbrushed out. * Just as Robot Pet wakes up and his screen turns on, the scenes that show the English and Japanese writing on Robot Pet's screen was cut out. Instead, these words are replaced with randomly generated numerical sequences. * As per usual, Dedede's tank was altered in appearance to avoid references to the military. * When Tiff is reading the box, the letters HNM were airbrushed out. Trivia * Kirby's pet is a reference to AIBO robotic pets. * In the scene where Tuff is playing with a toy, on the top right area of the shelf is a figure that resembles General Pepper from the Nintendo series, Star Fox. * While the Nightmare Enterprises logo is seen on the box brought home, Tiff never seems to notice it. She only notices the one on the white box Gengu is about to get rid of. ** In addition, the logo is also seen on the instruction manual Tiff was reading when activating Kirby's pet. * This episode has a similar plot to "Goodbye, little brother!", an episode from a 1977 show named Jetter Mars. it:Un nuovo compagno di giochi ja:誕生？カービィのおとうと Category:Kirby: Right Back at Ya! Episodes